EU migratory challenge – Possible responses to the refugee crisis
With hundreds of thousands of people embarking on perilous journeys to reach the EU borders, the EU now faces an unprecedented migratory crisis. The following pages set out possible responses, some based on legislation already in force and others requiring a profound reform of the existing system. It is argued that the so-called Dublin system − defining the Member State responsible in individual cases for examining applications for international protection − has led to overburdening of Member States at the EU’s southern external borders. Meanwhile diverging asylum standards across the EU have resulted in a great number of asylum-seekers travelling to Member States with higher reception standards. Therefore the solutions proposed centre, on the one hand, on harmonising national asylum standards and, on the other hand, on distributing asylum-seekers more evenly across the EU.
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